Pamplona Wineskin Making (Bota de Vino)

Bota de vino

The hand-cutting, stitching, and finishing of the bota de vino, Spain's iconic flexible leather wine flask, made from vegetable-tanned goatskin through a documented forty-step process — cutting, marking, sewing, "tearing," turning the finished piece inside out (a task requiring genuine strength as well as skill), capping, and a full week of hanging to dry — at the Pamplona workshop Las Tres ZZZ, founded in 1873 and continuously family-run across five generations, its name itself commemorating founder Gregorio Pérez's triplet daughters, born in the 1910s and honored by renaming the business "the three zagalas," Spanish for young lasses.

Risk level: Vulnerable · Not Listed

Alternate Names: Bota bag; wineskin
Geographic Center: Pamplona, Navarre
Community / Ethnic Group: Spanish (Navarrese)
Estimated Origin: The wineskin itself is documented as an ancient object type, evidenced in Persian reliefs and referenced in both The Odyssey and the Bible, later appearing throughout the Spanish literary Golden Age, most famously in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote de la Mancha; the specific Pamplona workshop tradition began in 1873, when Eusebio Iglesias founded the Botería Eusebio Iglesias on Comedias street; Gregorio Pérez, who had left Almudévar (Huesca), joined the workshop as an apprentice, later became a partner, and eventually took over the business entirely upon Iglesias's retirement; in the 1910s, the birth of Pérez's triplet daughters — Caridad, Carmen, and Pilar, described as an extraordinary event at the time — prompted the company's renaming to "Las Tres ZZZ" ("the three Z's"), from the Spanish word zagalas, meaning young lasses, in their honor; the business expanded through the 20th century, moving part of production to Calle del Carmen in Pamplona's old town, where craftsmen historically hung finished wineskins to dry along the old city walls, and by the late 1970s and early 1980s a dedicated factory on the outskirts of Pamplona, employing around 30 people, was producing more than 200,000 wineskins
Cultural Function: The bota de vino functions as one of Spain's most recognized cultural symbols, historically used by farmers, travelers, and wine enthusiasts, and closely associated with festivals including Pamplona's own Sanfermines (the Running of the Bulls), where the wineskin is documented in active daily use; a specifically curved variant of the bota was originally developed so that miners could drink hands-free from the vessel while working in low, narrow mine galleries, without needing to lift the bag above their heads — a distinct functional design shaped directly by a specific occupational need; the wineskin's narrow spout allows drinking directly from the vessel without a cup, and the shared act of passing and drinking from a bota is documented as central to its enduring social and cultural meaning in Spain
Primary Materials: Goat leather, vegetable-tanned, selected specifically for its strength, flexibility, and freedom from stains or cuts
Primary Tools: Hand-stitching needles and awls
Process Overview: Cutting and marking vegetable-tanned goatskin, hand-stitching with triple seams for a hermetic seal, turning the finished vessel inside out, fitting the cap and interior lining, and drying the completed wineskin for a full week
Traditional Applications: Personal wine and beverage carrying, festival and outdoor social use, and a distinct curved variant developed specifically for miners working in low, narrow mine galleries
Contemporary Applications: Continued handmade production for domestic and international sale, including customized laser-engraved pieces, sold worldwide with documented shipments reaching all five continents
Notable Practitioners: Eusebio Iglesias, founder of the original 1873 Pamplona workshop; Gregorio Pérez, apprentice, later partner and owner, whose triplet daughters gave the company its enduring name
Key References: Las Tres ZZZ, 'What is a Bota Bag? History and tradition,' 'History of the manufacturer of Wineskin,' and 'Artisanal Wineskin'; tourspain.es, 'Discover Spain through its traditional crafts'; Amazon product documentation, 'Spanish Curved leather Wineskin'
Verification Status: Desk-Researched

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